Halifax dance force Kinetic Studio celebrates an astonishing 25 years in existence this weekend with a pair of performances launching its new season.
“Kinetic Studio was born in 1982 when a group of choreographers meeting under the auspices of Dance Nova Scotia was looking for a way in which the professional community could work together for the development of contemporary dance in the province,” says Kinetic’s Shelagh Hunt. Kinetic was first called Modern Dance Committee, then Dance as a Performing Art, settling on Kinetic in 2003.
On the slate for this year are performance nights in January and March, but closer to the future is Dance Gala ’06 at the Cohn on November 5. This weekend’s show will feature contemporary works from choreographers Jacinte Armstrong (of Verve Mwendo) and Ali Gratian, Gwen Noah (joined by SNS cellist Norman Adams) and Susan Cook.
“Since 1999 we’ve seen a real growth in Kinetic,” says Hunt. “We’ve launched a mainstage performance series, have collaborated with choreographers and ensembles to produce new works, have toured our productions in the province and beyond, have inaugurated a successful and acclaimed fundraiser, and have presented original site-specific works.”
Kinetic’s season kicks off October 28 and 29 at DANSpace, 1531 Grafton, at 8pm. Tickets are $8 ($5 students and seniors) at the door.
Get busy Living
It’s not too often you get to see local films screened in public arenas outside the Atlantic Film Festival (or the YouGooglesphere), so it’s always a celebration—and this one’s timely, too. On Saturday, October 28, just before SubRosa’s goth event Staircase, local horror feature The Living Impaired will screen.
The zombie comedy stars Skratch Bastid (AKA Paul Murphy), Charles T. Conrad, JuJu and Allison Leadley, features music by Bastid, King Konqueror, Blackout 77 and Dead Red and was written and directed by Michael Fox (Entherance Online). “I wanted to make a movie that was not quite a comedy so much as it was a horror film, but not so much a horror film as it was comedy,” he says in the production notes for the film, which took three years, a couple botched versions and a format switch to make.
Check out a trailer at whitelancefilms.com, and hit SubRosa at 8pm on Saturday for the screening, for those of legal viewing age only.
Monster masquerade
If you couldn’t get enough of fancy masks at last weekend’s Gypsophilia-hosted masquerade event—or maybe you couldn’t get in, as is usually the case with that particular band—you’re in luck.
The Centre for Art Tapes will host its Media Masquerade fundraiser on October 28 at FRED, 2606 Agricola. Featuring performances from City Field and Lisa Lipton, there will also be a raffle and costume contest. The event will celebrate the career of artist Rita McKeough, a 2006 nominee for the Lieutenant Governor’s Masterwork award, by launching a retrospective DVD of her work.
The DVD is a recording of McKeough’s July talk about her career at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, available for 10 bucks at the event. Doors open at 8:45pm and it’s $12 at the door ($10 for students).
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A handful of artists are a whole lot richer this week after a round of announcements on October 19.
Stephen Kelly, audio master, Just Barely and CKDU tech guru, won the Aliant New Media Prize for his audio piece WaveUp which will “translocate a remote ocean environment, in real-time, to an urban gallery space.” “I’m very honored to receive the Aliant New Media Prize,” Kelly said of the $10,000 pot. “It’s encouraging to be recognized within the Nova Scotia arts community and this generous funding will make it possible for me to realize my ideas.”
Abstract artist Wayne Boucher, from the Valley, won the $25,000 Portia White Prize. “I am awestruck that I have been honoured for my work,” said Mr. Boucher. “No matter what the organization, or what my role has been, there has always been a core of anonymous people who, with great gusto and exuberance, accomplish wonderful things that express and present our Nova Scotian arts and culture.”
And Le Petit Circle was awarded the Masterwork, worth $25,000, for its outdoor children’s theatre.
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